Michigan (MISH-ig-əə n) is a peninsular state in the Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land borders with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, Indiana and Illinois to the southwest, Ohio to the southeast, and the Canadian province of Ontario to the east, northeast and north. With a populace of 10. 14 million and an area of 96,716 sq mi (250,490 km2), Michigan is the tenth-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the biggest by total area east of the Mississippi River. The state capital is Lansing, while its most populated city is Detroit. The Metro Detroit area in Southeast Michigan is among the country's most heavily populated and largest city economies. Various other vital metropolitan areas consist of Grand Rapids, Flint, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, the Tri-Cities, and Muskegon. Michigan contains two peninsulas: the heavily forested Upper Peninsula (typically called "the U. P. "), which sticks out eastward from north Wisconsin, and the much more inhabited Lower Peninsula, stretching north from Ohio and Indiana. The peninsulas are separated by the Straits of Mackinac, which attaches Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and are linked by the 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge along Interstate 75. Bordering 4 of the five Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair, Michigan has the lengthiest freshwater shoreline of any kind of U. S. political class, measuring 3,288 miles. The state rates 2nd behind Alaska in water coverage by square miles and first in percentage, with roughly 42%, and it also consists of 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. The Great Lakes area has mostly been lived in for countless years by Native individuals such as the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Wyandot. Some individuals contend that the region's name is derived from the Ojibwe word ᒥᓯᑲᒥ ᒥ ᓯ ᑲ ᒥ (mishigami), indicating "large water" or "large lake". While others claim that it originates from the Mishiiken People of Mackinac Island, also called Michinemackinawgo by Ottawa chronicler Andrew Blackbird, whose surrounding lands were referred to as Mishiiken-imakinakom, later shortened to Michilimackinac. In the 17th century, French travelers declared the location for New France. French inhabitants and Métis developed fts and negotiations. After France's loss in the French and Indian War in 1762, the area came under British control and later the U. S. following the Treaty of Paris (1783 ), though control continued to be challenged with Indigenous people till treaties in between 1795 and 1842. The location was part of the bigger Northwest Area; the Michigan Region was organized in 1805. Michigan was admitted as the 26th state on January 26, 1837, entering as a cost-free state and rapidly becoming a commercial and profession center that attracted European immigrants, especially from Finland, Macedonia, and the Netherlands. In the 1930s, movement from Appalachia and the Center East and the Great Migration of Black Southerners further formed the state, specifically in Metro Detroit. Michigan has a varied economic situation with a gross state item of $725. 897 billion as of Q1 2025, ranking 14th among the 50 states. Although the state has actually developed a diverse economic climate, in the early 20th century it ended up being widely referred to as the facility of the U. S. automobile industry, which established as a significant national economic force. It is home to the country's 3 major car companies (whose head offices are all in City Detroit).When made use of for logging and mining, today the sparsely inhabited Upper Peninsula is necessary for tourism because of its wealth of natural deposits. The Lower Peninsula is a center of production, forestry, farming, services, and state-of-the-art industry.
.
